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Friday, 27 January 2012

Daily Roundup - 27/01/12

F1

Bianchi Joins Force India - Jules Bianchi has joined Force India as their third driver for the 2012 season. more info here: http://www.dwmotorsport.blogspot.com/2012/01/movement-at-ferrari.html

Marussia will not run KERS in 2012 - Russian team Marussia will not be running a KERS system on their 2012 car. The decision has been made so they can focus development on other areas for more long term benefits. Team Lotus (now Caterham) had a similar approach to their 2011 season.

GP2/GP3

Pirelli to offer feeder series prize fund - Pirelli will award the 2012 GP3 champion €200,000 if he manages to graduate to the GP2 series for 2012. The prize winner will also take part in a winter GP2 test. Inaugural GP3 champion Esteban Gutierrez graduated immediatley GP2. 2011 champion Valtteri Bottas however will not, choosing to focus on an F1 reserve role with Williams.

Grand Am

Ryan Dalziel/Starworks on pole for the Daytona 24 Hours - Scot Ryan Dalziel grabbed pole for this years Daytona 24 Hourswith a time of1 Minute 41.119. The Riley-Ford, being shared with Allan McNish, Lucas Luhr, Alex Popow and Enzo Potolicchio will start alongside Max Angelelli, Ryan Briscoe and Ricky Taylors' Corvette DP. Gt pole was taken by Andrew Davis, who will share his Brumos Porsche with Marc Lieb, Leh Keen and Hurley Haywood.

WRC

Timing and Tracking to return for Sweden - The World Rally Championship's regular timing and tracking equipment will return for next week's Rally Sweden. The regular systems, provided by Stage 1 Technology were not present at Rallye Monte Carlo due to series promotor North One Sports going into administration the week before the event. A very unreliable system using nearby mobile phone signals was used instead in Monte Carlo. "The tracking system was quite difficult. For
example, when Jari-Matti (Latvala) went off the road, we didn't know
what had happened because the system had gone down again." Exclaimed Ford team principle Malcom Wilson with regards to the Monte Carlo System.

WEC

Heidfeld to Rebellion? - F1 star Nick Heidfeld looks set to race in the new World Endurance Championship for Rebellion this year.

The former Williams, BMW and Lotus Renault racer was left without a seat for 2012 after being replaced by Bruno Senna (who subsequently left for Williams) part way through the 2011 season. It was expected that he may return to former employers BMW driving one of their 6 DTM entries but the 6th car was taken earlier this month with the confirmation of Dirk Werner. An official announcement is expected on February the 2nd when the official entry list for the WEC is released by organisers ACO.

BTCC

Lea Wood to race Vectra in 2012 - Privateer Lea Wood will switch to a turbocharged Vauxhall Vectra for 2012. The car, a 3 time race winner with Andrew Jordan, replaces his ageing Honda Intera that is no longer eligible for championship points.